Hamilton won't take it easy in Mexico

Lewis Hamilton says he has no intention of playing things safe at the Mexican Grand Prix after qualifying in third place, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, in a race that is likely to see him crowned Formula 1 world champion for a fifth time.

The impressive Red Bull pair of pole-sitting Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will start ahead of Hamilton, who just needs a top-seven finish to be crowned champion.

Hamilton needed a similarly minor score in last season's race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but was involved in a first-lap crash with Sebastian Vettel that left him salvaging a ninth-place finish – although he was crowned anyway.

With Vettel needing a win, Hamilton could be forgiven for trying to stay out of trouble, but he says he will stay true to form.

"I'm really happy with it, we had a difficult day yesterday and it was much better today," said Hamilton of his qualifying effort. "I was not expecting to be up as high as we have done.

Really happy with today. The team did an excellent job yesterday to enable us to fight, I can’t thank them enough for their hard work. I’m happy for Daniel, he did a good job. We now place our focus and energy on race day #MexicoGP #F1 ???? @Motors_images @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/5XWklQv4Yf — Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 27, 2018

"The team did a great job yesterday, this was as good as I could get. I'm happy for Daniel, he did a good job.

"You saw what happened last year with the red car behind, so it depends how we get away.

"We will get a good tow from the two in front so hopefully I can gain a position."

He added: "Everyone’s going to be barrelling into Turn One to gain, so it’s a very, very fine line.

"If you go easy, you can get hit. If you go too aggressive, you can hit or still get hit. You’ve got to race it like normal and go in for the win.

"That’s what I’m going to be doing. I mean, that’s what we’re here to do, is to race."

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